Technology
(this page was imported from old documentation, still must be better adpted) = Technology = Through the game you and your opponents will race to discover ever more powerful technologies, which enhance your own civilizations while menacing those of each other. A few advances provide immediate benefits, such as making new actions available to your units; many introduce new units or buildings you can construct; and most are also gateways to further technology. Beware that some advances also make things obsolete. While obsolete units merely become impossible to make — leaving the ones you have already made intact — obsolete buildings and wonders actually disappear from your cities. Worse yet, your wonders can be obsoleted by an advance made by another player! There are a few ways to gain advances from other civilizations: you will sometimes discover enemy technology when you capture a city; the Great Library wonder, while it lasts, gives its owner every advance that two other civilizations have reached; and another player might grant technology in the terms of a pact. But otherwise advances must be discovered through the efforts of your own people. Each player starts the game with three technologies from among the first few available. From there you each direct your research toward one advance at a time, deciding which technology you need most quickly and which you can afford to attain later. Research progress is measured in research points, which can be generated both through trade and by scientists. Your first technology will cost ten research points, the second twenty, and so forth, with each advance costing ten points more than the last; and the cost for all players will be doubled when the game reaches 1 AD. This means your research output most steadily increase or advances will become steadily less frequent. Instead of selecting each new advance manually, you can establish a long-term goal that is several technologies away, and your scientists will work through all the prerequisite advances automatically. If you ignore technology completely then your scientists choose the next advance on their own. You can ask the game for a report on your science progress, or simply watch the lightbulb on the client which gets brighter as the next advances nears. The online help system displays a very helpful technology tree for every item and technology in the game, allowing you to explore the advances they require. The Space Race As described in the overview with which this manual opened, the game may be won peacefully by building a spacecraft and becoming the first civilization to reach Alpha Centauri. One civilization must start the space race by completing the Apollo Program wonder, which allows every civilization with the necessary technology to begin building spacecraft components: Space Structural Cost: 80 Requires: Space Flight Space Component Cost: 160 Requires Plastics Space Module Cost: 320 Requires Superconductors The skeleton of your spacecraft consists of structural components, each of which can hold in place either a component or module. Components provide fuel and propulsion systems, and decrease the amount of time your craft will require to reach Alpha Centauri; you can install up to sixteen, though they must be installed in pairs. Modules themselves come in three flavors: a habitation module provides living space for ten thousand colonists; a life support module can keep ten thousand colonists alive; and a solar panel provides the power required by any two other modules. Use the spaceship window to observe your progress as you build your spacecraft. You may manufacture spacecraft elements anywhere; they will automatically be assembled in your capital city. As you add components you improve the craft's probability of success and travel time; you may launch as soon as you find these satisfactory. If several civilizations are building spacecraft, they are faced with the decision of whether to launch quickly and start their craft on its way, or continue building in the hopes of launching a faster spacecraft later, or one with a higher probability of success. Both during construction and after its launch, the spacecraft is considered a building of your capital city, and will be lost if your capital is taken or destroyed. Specific Technologies Here each technology is shown, together with any prerequisite advances and with a summary of its effects. Horseback Riding allows: Horsemen Pottery allows: Granary and Hanging Gardens Bronze Working allows: Phalanx and Colossus Masonry allows: Palace, City Walls, Pyramids and Great Wall Ceremonial Burial allows: Temple Warrior Code allows: Archers Alphabet Code of Laws requires: Alphabet allows: Courthouse Map Making requires: Alphabet allows: Trireme and Lighthouse The Whell requires: Horseback Riding allows: Chariot Currency requires: Bronze Working allows: Marketplace Mysticism requires: Ceremonial Burial allows: Oracle Writing requires: Alphabet allows: Diplomat and Library Masonry requires: Alphabet and Mathematics allows: units#Catapult and City Walls Polytheism requires: Horseback Riding and Ceremonial Burial Iron Working requires: Bronze Working and Warrior Code allows: Legion Construction requires: Masonry and Currency allows: Aqueduct and Colosseum Monarchy requires: Ceremonial Burial and Code of Laws allows: Monarchy Literacy requires: Writing and Code of Laws allows: Great Library Seafaring requires: Pottery and Map Making allows: Explorer and Harbour The Republic requires: Code of Laws and Literacy allows: Republic Trade requires: Currency and Code of Laws allows: Caravan and Marco Polo's Embassy Feudalism requires: Warrior Code and Monarchy allows: Pikemen and Sun Tzu's War Academy obsoletes: Warriors and Phalanx Astronomy requires: Mysticism and Mathematics allows: Copernicus' Observatory Engineering requires: The Wheel and Construction allows: King Richard's Crusade Philosophy requires: Mysticism and Literacy Bridge Building requires: Iron Working and Construction allows: building bridges (roads over river squares) Chivalry requires: Feudalism and Horseback Riding allows: Knights obsoletes: Horsemen and Chariot Banking requires: Trade and The Republic allows: Bank Navigation requires: Seafaring and Astronomy allows: Magellan's Expedition and Caravel obsoletes: Trireme Monotheism requires: Philosophy and Polytheism allows: Michelangelo's Chapel and Cathedral University requires: Mathematics and Philosophy allows: University Medicine requires: Philosophy and Trade allows: Shakespeare's Theatre Invention requires: Engineering and Literacy allows: Leonardo's Workshop Theory of Gravity requires: Astronomy and University allows: Isaac Newton's College Theology requires: Feudalism and Monotheism allows: J.S. Bach's Cathedral obsoletes: Oracle Physics requires: Literacy and Navigation Chemistry requires: University and Medicine Gunpowder requires: Invention and Iron Working allows: Barracks II and Musketeers obsoletes: Barracks, Legion, Archers and Pikemen Democracy requires: Banking and Invention allows: Statue of Liberty Economics requires: Banking and University allows: A.Smith's Trading Co. and Stock Exchange Sanitation requires: Engineering and Medicine allows: Sewer System Magnetism requires: Iron Working and Physics allows: Galleon and Frigate obsoletes: Lighthouse and Caravel Atomic Theory requires: Theory of Gravity and Physics Leadership requires: Chivalry and Gunpowder allows: Dragoons obsoletes: Knights Metallurgy requires: Gunpowder and University allows: Coastal Defense and Cannon obsoletes: Great Wall and Catapult Steam Engine requires: Physics and Invention allows: Ironclad obsoletes: Frigate Explosives requires: Gunpowder and Chemistry allows: Engineers obsoletes: Settlers Railroad requires: Steam Engine and Bridge Building allows: Darwin's Voyage obsoletes: Hanging Gardens Conscription requires: Democracy and Metallurgy allows: Riflemen obsoletes: Musketeers Electricity requires: Metallurgy and Magnetism allows: Destroyer obsoletes: Great Library and Ironclad Industrialization requires: Railroad and Banking allows: Women's Suffrage, Factory and Transport obsoletes: King Richard's Crusade and Galleon Tactics requires: Conscription and Leadership allows: Cavalry and Alpine Troops obsoletes: Dragoons Communism requires: Philosophy and Industrialization allows: Police Station and United Nations obsoletes: Marco Polo's Embassy Refrigeration requires: Sanitation and Electricity allows: Supermarket Espionage requires: Communism and Democracy allows: Spy obsoletes: Diplomat The Corporation requires: Economics and Industrialization allows: Freight obsoletes: Caravan Genetic Engineering requires: Medicine and The corporation allows: Cure For Cancer Steel requires: Electricity and Industrialization allows: Cruiser Refining requires: Chemistry and The Corporation allows: Power Plant Amphibious Warfare requires: Navigation and Tactics allows: Port Facility and Marines obsoletes: Barbarian Leader Electronics requires: The Corporation and Electricity allows: Hydro Plant and Hoover Dam Combustion requires: Refining and Explosives allows: Submarine Flight requires: Combustion and Theory of Gravity allows: Fighter obsoletes: Colossus Guerilla Warfare requires: Communism and Tactics allows: Partisan obsoletes: Explorer Machine Tools requires: Steel and